War Tourism and Reconstruction of Memory: Korean Veterans' Battlefields Trip in Vietnam

Korean veterans set out on trips to the battlefields of the Vietnam War in search of the memory of their participation in the war. Recalling their experiences of the war in four decades, they prepare itineraries for their journey back to the former battlegrounds. The battlefield travel is a pilgrimage of experiencing history as well as ritual journey into memory and transnational leisure activity. This study is an ethnography which interprets narrations and discourses of the veterans’ personal and collective memories of the war experiences as reproduced in the old battlefields. The memories and discourses reflect major issues in Korean society over the participation in the Vietnam War as well as the conflict over the aftermath.